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Tuesday, May 7, 2013

2013 Key West "Selling Season" Results

The
2013 Key West real estate selling season just closed. The selling
season runs from Christmas through April of the following year. Most
buyers come to Key West during these months to buy their dream homes.
Most sales will have closed by now. I realize that there are still some
properties that were put under contract that have not yet closed. This
analysis looks at the total closed transactions between January 1,
2013 and May 1, 2013 in the single family sales and compares the results
to
the same time period in 2010, 2011, and 2012. I used the Key West
Association
of Realtors mls database which shows only transaction where Realtors
represented one or both parties. Private sales were not included. I
also counted only real estate sales from Key West to Shark Key as I do
not
consider the areas outside of Key West to be part of our market.

There were a total of 117 single family homes that sold in the Key West area in the first four months of 2013.
The median sales price on the group was $429 per sq ft. Since most
buyers that read my blog are looking for a home in the Old Town, Casa
Marina, and Meadows areas, I carved out those locations for separate
analysis. That core area had a total of 68 sales with an average sales
price of $839,000 or $501 per sq ft.

There were 25 single family homes sales that sold in excess of $1,000,000.
The median sales price of that group was $1,691,840. The houses sold
for an average of $611 per sq ft. Six of the 25 sales were located in
Key Haven, Shark Key, or Sunset Key.

In 2012 there were a total of 85
sales for all homes in the Key West area with a median sales price of
$600,443 or $376 per sq ft. There were 37 sales in this core area in
the same time period. The
median sales price in this select group was $829,991 with a sales price
of $537 on a per sq ft basis.

During the same time period in 2011 there were 93 single family home
sales that sold at the median price of $672,462 with an average price
per sq ft of $370. The core area of Old Town, Casa Marina, and the
Meadows areas had 51 single family homes sales in this period with a
median price of $757,873 and sold at $423 per sq ft.

I
then went back to 2010 to find that there were 92 single family home
sales in the January 1 to May 1 time period. The median price then was
$598,313 and the average sales price on a per sq ft basis was $376.32.
Next I zeroed in the core areas of Old Town, Casa Marina, and the
Meadows where I found there were 41 single family home sales at the
median price of $806,878 at an average price per sq ft of $482.

The
Old Town, Meadows, and Casa Marina "core areas" continue to dominate
Key West real estate sales. These are the areas where most first time
buyers look to purchase. These are the areas with which these buyers are
most familiar as these are typically the areas where they stay in
hotels, guest houses, or vacation rentals. Many, but not all, potential
buyers look to purchasing a home in these areas because they hope to do
some vacation rentals to help pay some of the home ownership costs.

I
guess it was sometime in March that I realized the real estate market
in Key West was "on fire". There just was not enough inventory of
houses to satisfy the demand for houses. Buyers were buying as if there
would be no tomorrow.

There were a couple of
interesting sales which you may find interesting. 527 Bahama Drive
(located one half block east of Duval between Fleming and Southard
Streets) finally sold after being on the market as a short sale for a
total of 2563 days. It sold at $225,000. Drive or walk by sometime so
you can see what you can get for $225,000 in Key West. While you are
out, walk by 707 Southard Street which is a charming little Key West
cottage that sold for $948 per sq ft. It's little sales like these
which mess with my mind when trying to explain that per square foot
average sales prices really do not matter in Key West. Our market is
made up of such diverse properties and differing locations that
statistical models really fail to help us compare prices.

707 Southard Street - $948 per sq ft

If
you are still hoping to buy a little cottage, a big house, or something
in between, rest assured that there will be new listings. People are
always dying, getting divorced, or moving away for a job or for some
other reason. We do have a limited supply of houses and condos, however.
We have an imposed limit on new construction and a height and density
limit imposed by local government. The fact that we are located on an
island means we cannot expand to other undeveloped areas because there
are none. The other islands are not "Key West". I see these two factors
as positives for buyers. There will be more houses for sale in the
future and they will probably cost more in the future. That's a positive
if you want your present investment to be worth more in the future.

The
uncertainty in Washington continues to put a chill on the overall
economy in my opinion. We have had a lot of cheap long term money
available that has helped make purchasing a second home in Key West an
affordable proposition. Let's hope the FED does not change things for a
while. We are doing great as it sits right now.

If you are looking to purchase a place in Key West, please contact me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642.
I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Coastal Realty, Inc. Let me help you find your place in Paradise.

5 comments:

My wife, Tiffani, and I bought the 707 Southard house last month. While we made the maximum price per sq ft item, the house previously sold for $75,000 more in 2006. Crazy price, but it is a unique house that has been featured in two different books. Search the address to find them.

Enjoy your blog and your previous postings on this property.

We already have it rented for next March. Readers can check it out here. http://www.lastkeyrealty.com/portfolio-view/caribbean-fling-southard/

Thanks for the report Gary. I would be interested in knowing what the average per square foot price was for single family homes sold this past season that are located in the old town area bounded by Eaton, Elizabeth, Ashe and Angela. I would think that any house located in this core area sold for much much more than $501 per square foot, particularly if it has a pool or room for one. What was the lowest total price paid for any single family home located in this core area? Thanks.

Dear Anon, Since you asked so nice and since town is so dead I did a quick search using your parameters which are less inclusive than the Key West Association of Realtors area for "South of Truman" area of Old Town. Your target area missed some big sales. Nonetheless, there were 17 sales with an average price per sq ft of $520.39.

Gary Thomas in a Nutshell

I first read about Key West in a magazine called "After Dark" sometime in the mid 1970's. But it wasn't until March 1984 that I made my first visit to the island that would become my home.
I had two weeks for a vacation and reserved a room at Colours Guesthouse (now Marrero's Guest House) for one week. I thought that if I didn't like Key West, I could always go back to Miami or Ft. Lauderdale for the rest of my trip.
But after a couple of days in Key West, that was no longer a consideration. But when I wanted to extend my stay for the extra week I found there was no room at the inn. The guesthouse owner did find me a room at LaTeDa, the infamous guesthouse/restaurant. That's a story I'll write another day. But those two weeks in Key West gave me the realization that I had found Paradise.
Key West has been my home since 1993 and my only regret is that it took me so long to get here.
I am a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties CRI.
Let me help you find your new home or business in Paradise. Living in Paradise is not a slogan, it's a way of life.